


Spleens and Conversations

by ReesieReads



Series: Lune Gift [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: (I promise this isn’t just a crack about spleens), (kind of), About Spleens, About Spleens., Awkward Conversations, Background Donald Duck, Background Huey and Dewey Duck, Background Webby Vanderquack, Bonding, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Hurt Louie Duck, Louie Duck’s Hurt Spleen, Parent Della Duck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28447563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReesieReads/pseuds/ReesieReads
Summary: During his Hospital stay, Della tells Louie about the times she hurt her spleen as a kid.
Relationships: Della Duck & Louie Duck
Series: Lune Gift [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2083740
Comments: 5
Kudos: 84





	Spleens and Conversations

When Louie woke up, it was in a hospital room.

He stared blankly at the white ceiling for a moment, just listening to his surroundings. A heart monitor beeped slowly somewhere behind him, and Louie could hear Dewey’s sleepy mumbles to his left. It was strangely…  _ peaceful,  _ and Louie couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken up so naturally. Usually he was being shaken awake for yet  _ another  _ adventure, or his brother’s would be too loud while getting ready and wake him up.

“Good afternoon.”

Louie jumped, breaking his train of thought as he turned to his right. Della met his gaze calmly, but he didn’t miss the dark circles under her eyes, nor the tear tracks on her cheeks. It was off putting to see her so…  _ upset?  _ Louie wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Della seemed to be the only one awake, everyone else sound asleep. Donald was sitting on the edge of his seat, head rested half-hazardously in his arms. One hand rested on Louie’s knee, and the duckling couldn’t help but feel comforted by his Uncle’s presence.

One empty chair sat on Della’s other side, Louie could only assume it was Scrooge’s.

His siblings were practically dog-piled on each other, and Louie desperately wished he could join them. Huey was leaning back in his chair, cheek leaned against his hand and feet resting lightly on top of Louie’s leg. Dewey set his chair sideways, head falling off one arm rest while his feet spilled over the other to rest on Huey’s lap. Webby had opted to sit on the ground, knees tucked underneath her while she rested her head on one arm on the little space left on Dewey’s chair, the other hand reaching over to lace with one of Huey’s.

“How are you feeling?” Della asked, and Louie reluctantly turned to face her again.

“Tired,” he admitted, feeling a numbing exhaustion in his limbs. “My stomach doesn’t hurt anymore though.”

She snickered lightly, “That would be the drugs, they numb out the pain but they make you pretty tired too. I remember really hating them when I was your age.”

Louie raised an eyebrow, “you were in the hospital at my age?” He wasn’t exactly  _ surprised,  _ but he was curious. He would have sworn Donald was the one who would have ended up in the hospital honestly, even if it was just because of his bad luck.

“Oh yeah,” Della said, a small smile across her beak. “I was in here so often they practically had a room assigned to me. I even busted my spleen like you did,  _ twice.” _

_ ‘Sure, Mom,’  _ Louie thought to himself, not bothering to hide his skepticism as he fixed her an unamused glance.

“I  _ did!”  _ Della insisted, leaning back slightly as she recalled her experience. “The first time I think I was a year younger than you boys, it was around winter. We had been living with Scrooge for about a year by then, and Donald hadn’t wanted to do anything but play his stupid guitar, so I had to entertain myself.”

Louie fiddled with his IV wire as his Mom talked, letting himself imagine her and Uncle Donald as kids. He felt weird thinking about it though, because while  _ logically  _ he knew they had been kids once, the idea just felt…  _ weird. _

“So I decided to sled down the stairs,” Della said nonchalantly, as if it were the most obvious decision in the world.

“I think Dewey tried that once,” he muttered, “Uncle Donald totally flipped on him afterwards though.”

“I’m not surprised,” she admitted, “I tried to get a running start when I did it. The sled slipped out from under me and I fell all the way down the staircase, totally knocked myself out. I woke up in the hospital, but Uncle Scrooge said Donnie was the one who found me.”

Louie winced in sympathy, knowing all too well what it was like to stumble across a hurt sibling. Dewey hadn’t completely knocked himself out ( _ yet _ ), but Louie had stumbled upon his older brother with a random broken arm before. They had been really little then, and he had been convinced Dewey was dying.

It had been an exhausting day for their Uncle.

“That time wasn’t too bad though,” Della said, “being knocked out help. The second time though…. oh jeez I can barely remember it honestly. Scrooge had taken us on some adventure, and we were on a ship. I think we were fighting pirates? I don’t know, but  _ someone  _ threw me at the ship’s side and I hit my stomach straight on the edge…”

“Ouch,” he said, wincing at just the thought. “I’m guessing that time was worse?”

She nodded, “ _ way  _ worse, I could barley breathe through the pain. Scrooge ended up calling the Adventure short, and when we got to the Hospital they surgically removed my spleen. I guess two hits had made it pretty much irreplaceable.”

Louie’s eyes widened and he pressed a hand to his stomach protectively, “they aren’t going to take out  _ my  _ spleen are they?”

“What? No!” Della exclaimed, “your injury really wasn’t all that bad, just some bruising. They want to keep you here to monitor things, but they said surgery is  _ super  _ unlikely.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Louie let himself relax back into the hospital bed. It was surprisingly comfortable, and he could feel his eyelids threatening to close. He tried to fight it, but it was clear the exhaustion would win out.

“Go to sleep,” Della said softly, “everyone will be here when you wake up.”

“Okay,” Louie mumbled, curling up as best he could despite the wires clinging to his arms.

“Love you,” she whispered, almost as if she hadn’t meant for him to hear her.

“Love you to… Mom.”


End file.
